Monkey Days
by balrock
Summary: 12 years after he set out, 7 After he became King. Everything was perfect... until it wasn't. POST TIME SKIP SPOILERS wise!luffy dark!luffy slightly OOC (Says complete, but there may be an epilogue)
1. Chapter 1

Monkey D. Luffy. Most would call him a monster. Some would call him insane. And few would call him a lovable idiot. And even fewer would call him Captain.

It's been 12 years since he set out to become the king of the pirates, 10 since Marineford and Ace's death. Luffy became the Pirate King 7 years ago, and since then watched his nakama fulfill their dreams.

The Strawhats had defeated Blackbeard and his crew for the title of Pirate King, the Strawhats won – obviously. He attained the great One Piece, the legendary treasure that the previous Pirate King – Gol D. Roger – left at the end of the Grand Line, Raftel.

Since then Luffy joined up with the Shanks, Law, Kidd, and Marco, who took Blackbeard's place as yonko, and the revolutionaries to take out the world government. And, while they didn't quite get what they wanted, they made sure that the World government was no longer corrupted. The system of the Celestial Dragons was abolished and slaves were set free.

Akainu was dead; Marco and Luffy had become quite the tag team – each taking turns exacting revenge on the marine, and Coby was now Fleet Admiral. Which, lets be honest, Luffy was all too excited about. They battled after everything was settled, not going to kill, but just because they promised to all those years ago in Water 7.

The Strawhats went back to the beginning of the Grand Line again to see Laboon and traveling to the Blues. The went to see each of their homes, going to see the people they loved, before heading back to the conquered sea.

It's been 5 years since then and Luffy has decided that it's time to return.

"Hey, Nami!" Luffy shouted, gaining his navigator's attention. "Set a course for East Blue!"

Nami seemed to hesitate for a moment before shrugging and getting the crew into action. That day had been a lazy and hot one, so most of the crew were relaxing outside and jumped at the chance to do _something_.

The course was set; the wind was in their favor, propelling them towards their destination. Luffy was still sitting on Sunny's head, but hopped of to go talk to his crew. This wasn't going to be easy… but he had to tell them at some point.

Zoro was the first to notice that something was wrong, next was Sanji. They both opened their mouthed to say something when Luffy shot them a look that told the he was going to explain.

Jinbe was the first to question Luffy on his change of course. Luffy grinned, "I want to…" Luffy's grin slipped off, "uh, I need to talk to you guys." He started playing with the fabric of his shirt. He was nervous; on one hand, he didn't want his crew to worry, on the other he didn't want them to be blindsided by what was to come.

He grinned at his crew again, "I just want to go see Makino and Dadan!" He lied, "Well, I'm going to go call Coby to tell him that we're leaving the Grand Line for a bit! Bye!" He rushed down into his captain's quarters leaving behind a stunned crew.

Zoro and Sanji exchanged a look, not liking what they just saw. Jinbe had his eyes narrowed at the door that Luffy just disappeared behind. The rest of the crew just looked confused.

"What was that about?" Usopp asked Zoro. Out of all the Strawhats, he was the best at knowing what Luffy was thinking. But even he was shut out from time to time.

Zoro shrugged, "I have no idea." While Sanji reared on him.

"Are you out of your mind?!" He hissed, "There's obviously something wrong, he said he would explain, but…!"

Jinbe interrupted Sanji, "I've only seen him that uncomfortable once." The rest of the crew looked up at that, never having seen him act that way. "It was just after the war, on Amazon Lily. It was right after he found out that Ace-san had died."

Mentioning Ace was almost an unspoken taboo on the crew, so Jinbe must have thought it to be very relevant if he brought him up. They never really pried into what happened to each other during their two-year separation. They knew bits of information, but no one ever went into detail. The only one that this didn't hold true for was Jinbe, he had been there when Luffy went through all that he did. He knew pretty much everything that went on.

They were concerned about what Luffy needed to tell them. After all, how bad does it have to be to get the _Pirate King_ nervous to tell _his crew_?

Luffy slammed the door shut behind him. Telling them what's going on is going to be harder than he thought. He decided to do what he came down here to do. He went over to the desk that stretched to cover the wall opposite his bed. Not that he really ever used this room, just for making private calls really.

He picked up the receiver and dialed the number he has long since memorized, Nami made him memorize several more on top of this one. After what seemed like forever, it picked up.

"Hello?" A voice asked.

"Hey, Coby!" Luffy replied glad to be talking to his friend.

Though he was a marine, he was still nakama. Since over throwing – killing – Akainu, Coby has worked hard to make sure that the marines are actually following their "path to justice". Which meant that he was fine with pirates, as long as they weren't breaking any major rules, for example: no harming or killing of civilians. Which also pretty much meant that Luffy as well as the Yonko; Shanks, Marco, Law, and Kidd – after a talking to from the other yonko and Luffy, the man reluctantly agreed not to cause trouble. So since then, said pirates and marines have been working together to take out any pirate crews or slave traders etc. who were directly going against civilians.

It was a good partnership, but it was going to have to end soon… at least for him.

"Luffy-san?" Coby asked, "What's wrong?"

Luffy sighed, "Coby…" goddamnit it was just as hard as telling his crew was going to be! "I'm leaving the Grand Line."

There was a hesitation, "Why does it sound like you aren't coming back?"

Here goes nothing, "Because I'm not… Listen Coby; my crew may return if they choose to. But, I'm out of time."

"Wh-what?" He stammered, obviously not believing what he heard. "No, no, no! That's not true! It _can't_ be true!"

"Coby, even though you're a marine… you have always been nakama." And he meant it. Like Roger and Garp, they would always have a rivalry, but they would always have each other's backs. "I won't be seeing you again. Take care."

He hung up, he couldn't take hearing his reply.

He picked up the receiver and dialed another number.

"Hello?" A voice answered… but it wasn't the one he wanted to hear.

"It's Luffy." And that was all it took for the man who answered to run out the door in search of his captain.

He didn't wait long, "Luffy'oi," Marco sounded out of breath. "What's the deal?"

"Huh?"

There was the sound of some people leaving the room, "You only ever call if there's someone attacking." He sighed, "Anyway, what's up?" Luffy paused, not knowing if he should ask if there are other people in the room.

"Goddamnit,"Luffy muttered, his lungs were constricting. Like they have been for the last few months, he was wheezing and Marco could tell something was wrong. What surprised Luffy was that he coughed, he pulled his hand away only to see blood. "Shit."

"Luffy'oi!" the slight panic was clear in Marco's voice. Luffy never got sick, he was as stubborn as his brother. "Hey! You alright'yoi?"

"Yeah," Luffy paused to catch his breath. "Actually, that's what I called to talk to you about… I'm leaving the Grand Line. I'm out of time. I don't know if my crew will return, but I'm leaving Zoro in charge if they do… help them out, okay?"

Marco was stunned; he never thought he'd be getting a call like this from Luffy. But he had no choice but to accept his request, Luffy wouldn't joke about something as important as this. "Alright." He didn't know what else to say, they had gotten close over the years, but he was just to shocked to say anything else.

"Goodbye." Luffy hung up.

One last call, and he knew this one was going to be the hardest.

"Hey, Anchor!" Lucky Roo's voice echoed in the silent room.

"Hey, can you get everyone in there with you?" Luffy's request was met with silence.

"Hey, you okay?" Luffy just barely managed to tell him to get them. And a few minutes later Shanks, Benn, Yasopp, And Lucky Roo were in the room.

"Hey, Anchor!" Shanks greeted as cheery as he usually was.

"Hey, Shank's?" A hum of acknowledgement came from the other end of the line, "You know I view you as a father right?"

"What?" Shanks asked, startled by the statement. "And I view you as a son… Why are you bringing this up?"

"And the rest of you I view as uncles!" Luffy was trying his hardest how to completely break down, he was a strong person, no doubt about that. But telling the people you love that this is going to be the last time you ever talk to them? That's hard for anyone, especially when you haven't seen part of your family in so long?

"Luffy…" Ben started.

Yasopp whispered in a soft and caring voice, that few knew existed, "It's okay, you can tell us anything."

"I'm…" The tears and a sob finally escaped his throat. It was quiet, but sounded like a cannon on the other line. And quite honestly, it shocked the four of them. "I'm… dying." The silence that followed was deafening, "I don't have anymore time. We're leaving for East Blue; I'm going home. Help my crew if they decide to return."

The four on the other line were silent. They barely heard the soft goodbye before the line clicked off.


	2. Chapter 2

It took about 3 days to get to East Blue, in that time Luffy had tried to tell his crew what was going to happen, but he couldn't. He couldn't make his crew worry, but he didn't want them to be mad at him for not telling them. Goddamnit. Why did this have to be such a hard decision? Zoro, Sanji, and Jinbe were all studying him when they thought he wasn't paying attention; he was, he was always on guard.

It wasn't until Usopp yelled that he spotted land, did luffy finally realized they had reached Dawn Island. He rocketed off the ship as fast as he could, flying straight into the door of the Party Bar.

"Hey, Makino!" He greeted the surprised bar keeper.

She was eventually overcame her shock to greet the pirate captain, "What brings you here, Lu?" Within seconds she had somehow procured a plate of cooked meat, and within another few seconds it was gone.

"Just visiting, really." Luffy found that lying was a lot easier for him when it was as close to the truth as possible, they _were_ visiting. But what she didn't know is that _he_ wouldn't be leaving. "I wanted to see you and Dadan."

That was when something came running down the stairs, it gasped, "Uncle Luffy!"

"Ann!" Luffy scooped Makino's child into his arms, squeezing her slightly, "You miss me?" The little girl with bright red hair nodded.

"Can you tell me a story of your latest adventure?" She looked up at him with sparkling eyes, he couldn't resist.

So he did. He told her about the latest island they saved from the Dark Lightning pirates. How his crew had taken care of them, but mad everything sound hilariously funny instead of grotesque and morbid. Sometime during the story, the rest of his crew had come in, greeting Makino and ordering food. They listened to the story as well adding onto it and laughing along with the redheaded girl.

"Luffy!"

Everyone in the bar looked to the swinging doors where Shanks was standing, "Outside. Now."

Luffy didn't have it in him to argue, Shanks sounded furious. He left with a reassuring smile to his crew and Ann who was staring wide-eyed at her father. He stepped out the doors, Shanks following behind.

Shanks led him to the edge of town, to the edge of the forest. That was where Luffy saw Benn, Yassop, Lucky Roo, Marco, _and Sabo!_

"Oi!" He was seriously confused, "What the hell is going on?!"

"What's going on'yoi?" Marco seethed, "that's what we should be asking you? You can't just call and say that your dying, then hang up, and not expect to get a talking to!"

Luffy sighed, understanding that he wasn't going to get out of this. He was about to start explaining when violent coughing racked his frame, he fell to his knees. There was a ringing, echoing in his ears. He wanted it to stop. Wanted everything to just stop.

"Lu! Luffy! Are you okay!" The voices blended together, but at least the ringing was gone. He sat up.

"I'm okay, I'm okay."

"The hell you are!" Sabo shouted, "What the hell is going on, what are you sick with, why the _fuck_ hasn't Chopper made a cure yet?!"

"Because my crew doesn't know yet!" Luffy yelled, "They wouldn't be able to do anything, I'm not sick."

"Luffy, what do you mean?" Benn was the only one who had been able to find his voice after the outburst. "What do you mean, you aren't sick?"

"I don't have an illness," Luffy repeated, "my body is destroying itself."

"L-Luffy, common, that can't be true." Luffy knew his crew was behind him, but he couldn't turn around to face them. His crew was in denial, every single one of them, and the men in front of him.

"I've been trying to tell you for the last three days, but I never knew how." Luffy was having trouble containing his emotions. "I've known this was going to happen since before Marineford. I didn't realize it would come so soon."

Zoro walked to Luffy and sat beside him, silent and stoic. But Luffy could tell that he was furious, at what, he wasn't certain. The one thing he did know was that he wanted _answers._ They all did.

He waited until they were all sitting before he asked a question he already knew the answer to, "Where should I start?" It was more to lighten the mood than anything but it only got him glares and a few "get on with it already".

"This was a few weeks after we got separated and found out about Ace's execution. I went to Impel Down to try to rescue him before they transferred him to Marineford. I broke in and started descending to the levels, I got to the fourth one, then everything was shot to hell..." He paused for a moment collecting this thoughts and deciding how he was going to proceed. "To make things short, I ende up attempting to fight the warden who was a poison man. I lost. I was covered in poison and thrown into level 5."

"You mean to say that you were a prisoner there for a while'yoi?" Marco, along with the others, was somewhat dumbfounded at the idea. And while Sabo and Jimbe had known that he had broken into Impel Down during that time, neither of them had heard this part of the time line.

Luffy nodded, looking at his crew, he noticed they were all silent - none of them looking directly at him. And a few of them were crying, namely: Usopp, Nami, and Chopper. "Guys, look at me." Reluctantly they did, "don't blame any of this on yourselves, I was the one that let that happen. I was the one who was weak. I was the one who doubted myself."

Jimbe had heard the story of what happened to his crew on Shabody Archipelago, he knew that the crew felt guilty about not being strong enough to not let that happen, and they partially blamed what happened to their captain on themselves. They felt guilty because they weren't there by his side, that they weren't there when he woke up. And even though Jimbe was he shared their guilt, if only because he was the one who let Luffy get the scar across his chest.

Luffy only continued with his story, he didn't want to give anyone time to argue. "Bon Clay was there, he was the one that got me out of there. He brought me to Iva-chan." At this the crew - minus Jimbe who knew what the man had sacrificed for his comrade - was shocked, they hadn't seen him since Alabasta, but it made sense since he was captured by the marines.

"Who's Bon Clay?" Lucky Roo was the first to voice his question. Luffy explained to them briefly about the occurrences in Alabasta and how he had helped them avoid capture at a great cost.

"What happened next?" Yassop had to say that he was nervous to hear, but wanted to get it over with.

Luffy drew in a big breath and released, this was going to be the part they were going to have trouble with, he knew and expected that. "Bon Clay begged Iva-chan to save me. And he did, at a cost... Ten years of my life. He injected hormones into my body that would speed up the healing process into 2 days. It took me 24 hours." He didn't give them the details of those hours spent in the chamber, mostly because he could barely remember them himself. The one thing that stood out most was the complete and utter pain. "He told me back then, _You cannot get back the life you gave._ Only now do I realize what he meant."

XX..o..XX

So, yeah... I want to apologize for how late this is, to be honest I completely forgot about this story.

Someone asked why Luffy didn't call Law... That will be answered in an upcoming chapter.

I only did a brief read through of this, so if you find any mistakes please let me know!

I plan to have the next chapter up within the next few weeks.

Please review! Oh, I forgot to say this last chapter, but unfortunately I do not own One Piece.


	3. Chapter 3

No one knew what to say to anything they just found out. All they knew was that someone they loved, someone they were devoted to, was leaving them.

They were all sitting on the forest floor, having only heard the news and explanation moments ago. None of them spoke, or moved. Except Sabo.

"Did you keep your promise?" He stared his brother in the eyes, already knowing what his answer would be.

He shook his head, "I regret three things. I couldn't save my crew, or Ace..." Luffy looked at his brother, "And we didn't go save you." Everyone around him was sad, he could tell. Sabo was taking that last statement the worst. They never discussed with anyone why Luffy thought Sabo was dead that day in Dressrosa, why he was so happy. It was in the past, they didn't need to reopen old wounds.

"I don't regret anything I did during that time...not in the least. I only made it back because of that decision." Luffy looked at the people surrounding him, his nakama. _His family._ "Ace died free, and by his own decision." Jimbe, Marco, and Shank's crew looked downcast, but not surprised - like the Strawhats and Sabo. "I had the chance to become stronger, to see my nakama become stronger and fulfill their dreams. I had another ten years."

With that, Luffy got up and started walking further into the forest. No one went to follow him. All of them still absorbing the last of the information they obtained.

"Luffy's really dying." Sanji blew smoke out of his cigarett.

Zoro only nodded.

Nami, Usopp, and Chopper were no longer crying. Franky and Robin were discussing something quietly, and Brook stood up, walking towards the Sunny.

The rest of the crew followed, minus Zoro, who walked further into the forest. "Tiger good?" he asked.

"If you can kill it that is." Sanji quipped.

"Where are all of you going?" Sabo yelled at them. "Luffy is _dying_ and you all are doing _nothing!_ "

It came as a shock to everyone when it was Usopp who rounded on him, "We are _not_ doing _nothing_." He growled, "We're doing the only thing we can do."

"Which is _what_ exactly?" Sabo spat at the sharpshooter.

"Celebrate our Captains life while we still can."

Shanks, Benn, Yasopp, Lucky Roo, Marco, and Sabo. They all stood there, staring at Luffy's crew.

They realized just how mcuh _stronger_ they were than themselves. They knew their captain was dying. They knew he was out of time. They didn't mourn, they didn't want to. They wanted to celebrate the life that had saved them in more ways than one. They knew that their Captain didn't tell them for a reason and didn't question it, they didn't question his actions from ten years ago. They accepted it and wanted to celebrate it.

The six men standing there were dumbfounded, they were all angry and devastated. They were only thinking of _themselves_.

[line]

Barking was the only knowledge Luffy needed to know that he had made it to his childhood home. The countries from when he and Ace were kids were left practically untouched.

Someone came running out of the hut, brandishing a knife.

"Hey, Magra!" Luffy chirped.

"L-Luffy!" the bandit dropped his knife and ran to the now fully grown man, hugging him and dragging him back inside, "Boss! It's Luffy! Luffy's here!"

Dogra and Dadan came running in, along with the rest of the bandits. The first two whacking him on the head, "WE HEARD ABOUT THAT LAST STUNT YOU PULLED!"

Luffy just laughed, knowing that they were just worried and over reacting. He held up a bottle of sake and all was forgiven.

They drank and laughed until nightfall, when Shanks and Benn went to get him...and somehow ended up dragging all of the bandits along with them.

The group was led to the beach where there was all sorts of food on many different tables and many bonfires going up and down the beach - each one flickered green and blue every now and then. Above them was a banner that said: Happy BIrthday Luffy!

Luffy was about to tell them that it wasn't his birthday, but he then realized what they were panning, and went along with it. It wasn't too far off, for that matter.

There was more drinking and partying, tale telling and music - until very early the next morning. Everything had died down and most were sound asleep, probably from having too much to drink.

Not many were still awake, only the Stawhats and few others who knew what the celebration was really for.

Luffy laid down on the sand, staring up at the stars. "Thanks," None of them said anything, but instead were deadly silent. "for everything." Those words meant so many things.

 _For being there._

 _For helping me._

 _For saving me._

 _For loving me._

 _"_ Be strong," he paused, taking a deep breath, "I know you can."

 _I love you._

He was gone. But all of them would swear to the day they died, that they saw Ace with his arm wrapped around Luffy's shoulders, waving to them. And Shanks would swear that he saw another man next to them.

"You always leave in the best way... don't you, captain."

XX..o..XX

Sorry that this was so short... that's just how everything kinda fit together.

I'm going to write an epilogue to this, which will explain some things.

Who can figure out what that last sentence is refering to?

Thank You for reading.


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